White Room

About the White Room

The White Room provides current information relating to new technologies for energy efficiency. Stay connected with the latest news, events, and scientific breakthroughs in this fast moving sector. Use our filters on the left or click here to send a suggestion for content to add.

Potential improvements to wind turbine efficiency include (1) using computers to measure the airflow over blade surfaces and adjust the blade angles in real time and (2) adding micro-grooves into the blade surface to reduce the the resistance of blades to incoming airflow.

Boeing subsidiary Spectrolab's solar panels supply power to over 60% of orbiting satellites, but the company may soon be known for another achievement: their new "terrestrial" solar cells beat the old record for solar conversion efficiency by 15%.

Co-generation of heat from coal power plants increases energy efficiency, but the resultant reliance on coal plants to supply heat limits the grid's use of renewable energy during cold months. As a result, some grid operators are building pumped hydro systems to store the un-used renewable energy.

Researchers at the University of Rhode Island have identified a number of ways to harvest waste heat from asphalt roads, including embedding water filled pipes or thermoelectric semiconductors in or under the roadways.

Cogenra Solar has developed a hybrid solar array that produces electricity and uses waste heat to provide hot water. The company says it has a solution for the overheating problems that have stymied this type of hybrid solar in the past, and they also believe they can achieve reasonable efficiency.

Researchers at Georgia Tech have used piezoelectric materials to make the first nanowire-based generators that can harvest enough mechanical energy to power small electronic devices. While initial studies used zinc-oxide nanowires, the researchers are already looking into more efficient materials.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority won a grant to install an energy storage system to capture regenerative braking energy when the subway approaches a station. Some excess energy will be stored and made available to the wholesale power market for grid services.